The car was stolen, can the owner keep the license plate?

The Ministry of Public Security has just issued Circular 24/2023/TT-BCA regulating the issuance and revocation of registration and license plates for motor vehicles, which stipulates that license plates are issued and managed according to the vehicle owner's identification code (hereinafter referred to as identification license plates).

Identification number plate is a number plate with symbols, number plate series, size of letters and numbers, and number plate color according to the provisions of this Circular.

For vehicle owners who are Vietnamese citizens, license plates are managed according to personal identification numbers.

In case the vehicle expires, is damaged or ownership is transferred, the vehicle owner's identification plate will be revoked by the vehicle registration authority and reissued when the vehicle owner registers another vehicle under his/her ownership.

The vehicle identification number is retained by the vehicle owner for a period of 5 years from the date of revocation; after the aforementioned period, if the vehicle owner has not registered the vehicle, that identification number will be transferred to the license plate inventory for registration and issuance to organizations or individuals according to regulations.

In case the vehicle owner changes his/her headquarters or residence from one province or centrally run city to another, the identification number plate is retained (the vehicle number plate does not have to be changed).

Regarding transitional provisions, the Circular clarifies that for vehicles registered with 5-digit license plates before August 15, 2023, that have not yet undergone the revocation procedure, that license plate number will be considered the vehicle owner's identification plate.

For vehicles registered with 5-digit license plates, if the vehicle owner has completed the revocation procedure before August 15, 2023, the license plate number will be transferred to the license plate warehouse to issue a new license plate according to regulations.

For vehicles already registered with 3 or 4-digit license plates, they are still permitted to participate in traffic, except in cases where the vehicle owner wishes to switch to a specific license plate or when the vehicle owner carries out procedures for renewing the vehicle registration certificate, renewing the license plate, reissuing the vehicle registration certificate, reissuing the license plate, or registering a transfer of ownership or relocation of the vehicle as stipulated in this Circular. In such cases, the 3 or 4-digit license plate will be revoked and replaced with a specific license plate as prescribed.

Regarding the new regulations in Circular 24, many people are wondering whether, if a vehicle with a 5-digit license plate is stolen and reported to the police, the owner is allowed to keep the stolen license plate.

Regarding this matter, according to Article 23 of Circular 24, if a vehicle is stolen, misappropriated and cannot be found, or is scrapped, the owner may request the revocation of the vehicle registration certificate and license plate.

Therefore, the vehicles that were lost fall under one of the cases for revocation of registration certificates and license plates.

Regarding the procedure for recovering a lost vehicle, the vehicle owner fills out a vehicle registration and license plate recovery form on the public service portal and submits the vehicle registration certificate to the vehicle registration authority via postal service.

After receiving and checking valid documents, the vehicle registration authority will return the results of the registration revocation certificate and license plate to the vehicle owner on the public service portal.

In cases where the online public service is partially implemented, the vehicle owner declares the vehicle registration and license plate revocation form on the public service portal; provides the online vehicle registration file code and submits the revocation application as prescribed.

After receiving and verifying the documents, the vehicle registration authority will issue a certificate of registration and license plate revocation; one copy will be given to the vehicle owner, and one copy will be kept in the vehicle's file.

After citizens complete the procedure for revoking license plates and registering their vehicles, those license plates will be stored in an electronic database. That license plate will also be reissued when the owner registers another vehicle under their ownership. After 5 years, if the owner no longer needs to use the license plate, it will be revoked and stored in the license plate database for reissuance to someone else.

Therefore, after the revocation procedure, if people buy a new vehicle of the same type within 5 years, they will be issued the old license plate again to register the new vehicle.

Minh Hoa (t/h)

Source